AD&D Campaign Spotlight: Money Changers, Banks, Loans, and Jewelers
Note: I tried something new for the video on YouTube, added some game play in the background for the podcast. People said they wanted to see a little something and they suggested some game play. So wish granted :)
This is the grease that makes a city feel real. You haul treasure in, someone takes a cut, and you walk out with lighter pockets and a paper promise.
Use the book’s numbers and keep it simple. Changers swap coin for a fee. Bankers hold it with no interest. Loans hurt if you are unknown and get cheaper if you have a name. Jewelers buy low and sell high. That is the world.
The fun comes from the details. Ledgers, seals, references, and collateral. A lost chit can start a full session. A bad appraisal can start a fight. When players win a better rate with smart talk or proof, it feels earned.
Bring this into play and your city stops being a backdrop. It becomes a machine the party can work with, or against.
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Oh, nice. And what about usury, letters of credit, and exchange rates between polities?
Banking and loans were a thing in European medieval society. As early as the 12th century, the Knights Templar safeguarded pilgrims to the Holy Land. To prevent being robbed of gold, travelers (mostly nobles) would deposit their wealth in a local Templar site and carry a letter of credit for the value of their treasure. Ordinary people could also deposit money, such as they had, with the Templars.
Usury was a crime under the medieval Church rules; Christians were strictly forbidden from charging any interest. So were Jews within the Jewish community, though they could charge non-Jews. Obviously, bankers and lenders got rich by charging fees of one sort or another.
Currency? Did you say silver standard? With the collapse of Imperial Rome, currency became scarce. Silver was more common, even before the Fall. Spain spent silver lavishly trying to reclaim Europe for the Faith. If coinage is scarce, treasure really is a treasure. A handful of coins makes life easier...for a while.
"Well, see here, sir...you've been spending these silver pennies like water in my tavern, and I'm having trouble keeping up with expenses. The baker knows you're swimming in it, so he charges me more for bread. I'll have to ask you for more than just the few pence you've had to hand over til now."
"Say, what is this? Are you trying to cheat the Crown? Where did this come from?"
"Oh, that. I dug it up while I was lost in the Foothills of Nangarhar*. They're gold crowns from the Imperial treasury of Waisetsu Yutaka."
"Who? Never heard of him! More like you're passing off fake coins, you lout. There's a penalty for that, you know? Let's say...about 10 more of these, and the matter need never be written in my ledger."
A great deep dive into this subject.
I don't think banks or loans would be a thing for a medieval society, unless you were noble, maybe when a character gets to name level and wants to build that stronghold, and there may also be usury for established religions that forbids it anyway.
In the absence of banks there is only one place to get large sums of cash from someone willing to negotiate for suitable interest rates - perhaps that dragon under the mountain!
In Basic edition, you didn't get xp for magic items and you could not really buy or sell them, although there were rules about pricing magic items in Rules Cyclopaedia, they were seen as a way of helping characters gain future xp rather than treasure.
As regards too many magic items, not an issue in Basic with it's high fatality rate, as possessions would normally perish along with the deceased, in my experience any excess weapons would be stored and given to new characters (of which there were many) to jump start them in adventuring.